44.7% of Bhutanese girls skip school during menstruation

More than 60 percent of the adolescent schoolgirls in Bhutan stated that a woman must not enter a shrine or temple during menstruation, according to a recent study on Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) of adolescent schoolgirls and nuns.

The study by the education ministry and UNICEF highlights the knowledge, attitude and practices of menstrual hygiene management of adolescent schoolgirls aged between 10-19 years and nuns in the country. Schools in the country observed Menstrual Hygiene Management day on May 28.

The study found that although menstruation is a normal biological process, it is considered as something negative, dirty or shameful in various cultures.

Although about 42.2 percent of schoolgirls stated that they were aware of the fungal infection, more than half of the respondents (57.1 percent) said that they were unaware of the reproductive tract infection related to poor menstrual hygiene.

It was also found that more than 40 percent of nuns didn’t know at all about infections related to poor menstrual hygiene management. More than half of the nuns were unaware of the Urinary Tract Infection.

“About 7.1 percent of nuns who responded stated that menstruation is a curse while about 5.4 percent said it was a disease,” the study states.

It found that more than half of the adolescent nuns reported that they missed class or  activity during menstruation since there is no place to dispose-off sanitary pad. “Lack of sanitary pads and dirty toilets were other reasons for missing classes or activities.”

About 90 percent of respondents said that they attended school despite menstruation, while half of the schoolgirls reported taking rest during menstruation.

However, it was found that about 44.7 percent stated that they missed school from one to four days during every cycle. “Pain and discomfort were the predominant reasons given for school absenteeism,” the study revealed.

The study found that religious taboos were found to be prevalent among nuns.

About 33.2 percent of nuns stated that women in menstruation are susceptible to get possessed by evil spirits.

“More than 76.58 percent of the adolescent nuns stated that it was important to buy pads without being seen,” the report stated.

The report found that adolescent girls often risk their health using unhygienic clothes and even miss out classes during menstruation. “More than half (57 percent) of the respondents agreed that they got easily upset during pre-menstrual and menstrual periods than other times.”

The study also found that more than 50 percent of women agreed that women are more tired than usual when they are on menstruation.

Nearly 90 percent of respondents stated that they used sanitary pads with others either using napkins, cloths or towel. “However, about three percent of the adolescent schoolgirls did not use any kind of absorbent material.”

Although a majority of respondents stated that they dried cloth pads in sunlight, the study revealed that around one out of every ten respondents dried their pads inside the house.

It also found that about eight percent of schoolgirls hid reusable sanitary pad beneath another cloth and dried them together. Likewise, about 7.1 percent of nuns dried reusable sanitary pad beneath another cloth.

It found that mothers are the primary source for information on menstruation for both schoolgirls and nuns. Other sources included teachers, sisters and friends.

In cases of special children, the study found that teachers suggested parents to keep their child at home during menstruation as the school lacked the capabilities to help them. “All participants of focused group discussion unanimously agreed that they didn’t have enough WASH facilities to combat menstruation in their schools,” the report stated.

The study also revealed that respondents in MHM programme intervention schools had good knowledge of menstruation than non-intervention schools.

About 1,526 schoolgirls and 202 nuns were interviewed for the study.

Some of the recommendations made were to enhance WASH facilities in every school, enhance sanitary facilities such as sanitary pad disposal bin, sexual education programmes, parenting education on life skills and sexuality education and education of boys on the empathy they need to show girls regarding menstrual health and hygiene among others.

The study also recommended the education ministry to establish disabled-friendly WASH facilities and to support the installation of incinerator to burn sanitary pads.

Other recommendation include the need of the School Health and Nutrition Division (SHND) to spearhead the development of checklist to account for schools and nunneries.